Cordless telephone equipment, cordless telephone system, and cordless telephone communication method

ABSTRACT

Cordless telephone equipment includes a portable unit and a base unit. The base unit includes: a portable unit control section controlling a communication protocol with the portable unit through a wireless interface wirelessly connecting with the non-IP terminal type portable unit; a wireless LAN interface section transmitting and receiving packet data to and from a wireless IP terminal and wireless LAN access point; a wireless LAN bridge control section forwarding the received packet data to the wireless IP terminal, or the wireless LAN access point, or within the base unit in accordance with a destination address of the packet data received through the wireless LAN interface section; and a base unit control section processing the packet data received from the wireless IP terminal and forwarded within the base unit, as data received from a portable unit under control of the base unit.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to cordless telephone equipment, acordless telephone system, and a cordless telephone communicationmethod.

BACKGROUND ART

In recent years, mobile telephones (including so-called “cellular phone”or “smartphone”) that make a connection to a mobile telephone networkare provided with a wireless LAN communication unit (Wi-Fi (registeredtrademark) function conforming to the IEEE 802.11 standards), and such amobile telephone can be used to connect to the Internet under a wirelessLAN environment at home or at an office (hereunder, referred to as “inthe home”) and utilize a variety of Internet services such as Webbrowsing and IP telephone services and the like.

In the home, a cordless telephone set that makes a connection to alandline telephone network is provided, and the cordless telephone setis shared by a plurality of people such as family members, while amobile telephone is used for personal use. Thus, the cordless telephoneset and the mobile telephone are utilized as telephone sets forcompletely independent uses. In this respect, technology that connectssuch a cordless telephone set to a mobile telephone is disclosed, forexample, in PTLs 1 to 3.

PTL 1 discloses a cordless telephone system that uses PHS (PersonalHandy-phone System) technology to enable, by switching a communicationmode of a mobile telephone between a public-network mode and ahome-network mode, combined use of the mobile telephone as a mobiletelephone when outdoors and as a portable unit of a cordless telephoneset in the home.

PTL 2 discloses a telephone set system in which a wireless IP telephone(portable unit) is connected to a base unit having a telephone networkcontrol circuit (landline telephone network communication unit) and adigital wireless communication unit (wireless LAN communication unit) tothereby utilize the wireless IP telephone as an Internet wirelesstelephone set.

In addition, PTL 3 describes a multifunction machine that includes anexisting cordless telephone transceiver unit and a wireless LANtransceiver unit and in which a cordless telephone and a wireless LANcoexist, and which enables calls without sound interruptions or delayswith a cordless telephone set.

CITATION LIST Patent Literature

-   PTL 1-   Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-253448-   PTL 2-   Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-025020-   PTL 3-   Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-244978

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem

However, the main object of the cordless telephone system described inPTL 1 is, with respect to utilization of the home-network mode of thePHS telephone set, to switch the PHS telephone set used outdoors in thepublic-network mode to the home-network mode to thereby enable the PHStelephone set to be used as a portable unit of a cordless telephone setin the home. Thus, the cordless telephone system disclosed in PTL 1 isnot configured to connect to the Internet for communication of a largeamount of data at high speed, which is required for Web browsing with asmartphone or the like.

Furthermore, the telephone set system disclosed in PTL 2 is a system inwhich, with respect to a connection between a base unit and a portableunit of the telephone set system, a known wireless communicationtechnology between a base unit and a portable unit of a cordlesstelephone set is merely replaced with a wireless LAN technology, andwhich is not configured to allow a portable unit adopting a knownnon-wireless LAN system and a portable unit adopting a wireless LANsystem to coexist and interconnect.

In addition, the multifunction machine disclosed in PTL 3 is notconfigured to connect to or relay received packets from a wireless IPterminal to a wireless access point through a wireless LAN transceiversection and is not configured to control a wireless IP telephone as acordless telephone portable unit either. In particular, when it isdifficult to connect a wireless access point and a wireless IP terminalin an environment in which radio signals hardly reach a wireless IPterminal, such as in a large home, a demand for such relays arises.

The present invention has been made in view of the above describedcircumstances and utilizes a wireless IP terminal including a wirelessLAN communication function capable of connecting to the Internet as acordless telephone portable unit in the home and outside the home andalso allows the wireless IP terminal to coexist and interconnect with acordless telephone portable unit having no wireless LAN communicationfunction in the home. The present invention thus provides cordlesstelephone equipment, a cordless telephone system, and a cordlesstelephone communication method that relay the radio signals between thewireless IP terminal and the wireless access point even in a home inwhich radio signals hardly reach a wireless IP terminal directly from awireless access point.

Solution to Problem

Cordless telephone equipment according to an aspect of the presentinvention includes: a portable unit that is a non IP terminal; and abase unit that connects with the portable unit wirelessly, in which thebase unit includes: a portable unit control section that controls acommunication protocol between the base unit and the portable unitthrough a wireless interface that wirelessly connects with the portableunit of the non-IP terminal type; a wireless LAN interface section thattransmits and receives packet data to and from a wireless IP terminaland a wireless LAN access point; a wireless LAN bridge control sectionthat forwards the received packet data to the wireless IP terminal, orthe wireless LAN access point, or within the base unit in accordancewith a destination address of the packet data received through thewireless LAN interface section; and a base unit control section thatprocesses the packet data received from the wireless IP terminal andforwarded within the base unit, as data received from a portable unitunder control of the base unit.

A cordless telephone system according to an aspect of the presentinvention includes: the cordless telephone equipment according to theaspect of the invention mentioned above; and a wireless IP terminal thattransmits and receives packet data to and from a base unit of thecordless telephone equipment through a wireless LAN, and whose calls areto be controlled as a portable unit under control of the base unit.

A communication method according to an aspect of the present inventionis a communication method in cordless telephone equipment including aportable unit that is a non IP terminal and a base unit that wirelesslyconnects with the portable unit, the communication method being used forthe base unit that transmits and receives packet data to and from awireless IP terminal and a wireless LAN access point, the communicationmethod including: receiving packet data from the wireless IP terminal orthe wireless LAN access point; forwarding the received packet data tothe wireless IP terminal, or the wireless LAN access point, or withinthe base unit in accordance with a destination address of the receivedpacket data; and processing packet data received from the wireless IPterminal and forwarded within the base unit, as data received from aportable unit under control of the base unit.

According to the present invention, a wireless IP terminal including awireless LAN communication function capable of connecting to theInternet is used as a cordless telephone portable unit in the home andoutside the home and the wireless IP terminal is allowed to coexist witha cordless telephone portable unit having no wireless LAN communicationfunction in the home, and thus, it is possible to provide cordlesstelephone equipment that relays radio signals between a wireless IPterminal and a wireless access point even in a home in which radiosignals hardly reach a wireless IP terminal directly from a wirelessaccess point.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a cordlesstelephone system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a cordlesstelephone base unit shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a mobiletelephone (wireless IP terminal) shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating packet reception processing of thecordless telephone base unit shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating portable unit registration processingthat is shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating portable unit authorizationprocessing that is shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram illustrating procedures of wireless LANbridge control in the cordless telephone base unit shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram illustrating procedures for portable unitregistration and portable unit authorization of mobile telephone as wellas procedures for extension calls between portable units in the cordlesstelephone base unit shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram illustrating procedures by which thecordless telephone base unit shown in FIG. 2 sends portable unitadditional information to a mobile telephone;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a wireless LAN address informationtable of an SIP server;

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a portable unit management table of astorage section; and

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a portable unit additional informationtable of the storage section.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT

Hereunder, an embodiment of the present invention are described indetail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of acordless telephone system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Hereunder, the configuration of the cordless telephone system will bedescribed using FIG. 1. Note that in the following description, althoughmobile telephones, which include cellular phones and smartphones, aredescribed as an example of a wireless IP terminal with VoIP (Voice overIP) function, the present invention is not limited thereto.

In FIG. 1, cordless telephone base unit 10 is provided in a home, and isconnected to the Internet through access point 20 that also has afunction as a wireless router, and is also connected to a landlinetelephone network. It is assumed that there are also cordless telephoneportable units (CDL portable units) 30-1 and 30-2 that connect withcordless telephone base unit 10, and mobile telephones 40-1 and 40-2that connect with cordless telephone base unit 10, a mobile telephonenetwork and a wireless LAN in the home. Furthermore, it is assumed thatmobile telephone 40-3 that has similar functions to mobile telephones40-1 and 40-2 exists outside the home. Note that, the cordless telephoneportable units are collectively referred to as “cordless telephoneportable unit 30” unless a specific cordless telephone portable unit isdistinguished, and the mobile telephones are collectively referred to as“mobile telephone 40” unless a specific mobile telephone isdistinguished. It is assumed that mobile telephone 40 is connected byWi-Fi protocol to cordless telephone base unit 10.

In FIG. 1, cordless telephone portable unit 30 can connect with thelandline telephone network and the mobile telephones through cordlesstelephone base unit 10. Further, mobile telephone 40 can connect withcordless telephone portable unit 30, the landline telephone network, andaccess point 20 through cordless telephone base unit 10.

In FIG. 1, cordless telephone portable unit 30 adopts a DECT (DigitalEnhanced Cordless Telecommunications) protocol as the wirelesscommunication system for communication between the portable units andthe base unit, and cordless telephone portable unit 30 can connect withthe landline telephone network and the mobile telephones throughcordless telephone base unit 10. Mobile telephone 40 can connect withcordless telephone portable unit 30, the landline telephone network, andaccess point 20 through cordless telephone base unit 10.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of cordlesstelephone base unit 10 shown in FIG. 1. Hereunder, the configuration ofcordless telephone base unit 10 will be described using FIG. 2.

NCU (network control unit) and modem section 101 includes a networkcontrol unit (NCU) that performs control on a telephone line, includingconnection with a public network when making an outgoing call, detectionof an incoming call from a public network, and the like, and a modemunit that receives caller number information from a public network atthe time of an incoming call.

TAM (Telephone Answering Machine) section 102 stores an answeringmachine message, and performs recording and playback of a voice message.

Storage section 103 stores various kinds of setting data of the cordlesstelephone equipment, directory data, outgoing and incoming call historyinformation, and portable unit additional information including acommunication history of the portable units such as SMS (Short MessageService) messages.

Audio input/output section 104 includes a microphone and a speaker, andoutputs a ringtone and also receives and outputs telephone conversationspeech.

Operation section 105 includes dial keys and various function keys withwhich a user performs operations. LCD (liquid crystal display) section106 displays various kinds of information.

Cordless telephone portable unit wireless I/F section 107 is a circuitthat transmits and receives wireless data to and from cordless telephoneportable unit 30, and includes an RF/IF (Radio Frequency/IntermediateFrequency) section that performs frequency conversion of radio signals,a modulation/demodulation section that performs modulation anddemodulation, and a digital signal processing circuit that performs TDMAsignal processing and the like.

Cordless telephone portable unit control section 108 transmits andreceives control data to and from cordless telephone portable units 30,and performs protocol control for outgoing calls and incoming calls andthe like in accordance with a control protocol (for example, a DECTprotocol, a PHS protocol or the like) between cordless telephone baseunit 10 and cordless telephone portable unit 30. Note that, in thefollowing description, it is assumed that the DECT protocol is adoptedas the control protocol with respect to cordless telephone portable unit30.

Base unit control section 109 couples with peripheral sections such asNCU section 101 performs overall control of cordless telephone base unit10. Specifically, base unit control section 109 receives and analyzesevents and messages that originate from each section around base unitcontrol section 109, controls the state of outgoing and incoming calls,and issues instructions for call connections to each section.

Call control section 110 processes events and various messages receivedfrom NCU and modem section 101, cordless telephone portable unit controlsection 108, and IP telephone control section 113.

Portable unit registration section 111 performs registration anddeletion of portable units (cordless telephone portable unit 30 andmobile telephone 40 (wireless IP terminal)) that are control targets ofcordless telephone base unit 10.

Portable unit authorization section 112 performs authorization ofconnections from portable units (mobile telephones 40) that have beenregistered in cordless telephone base unit 10.

IP telephone control section 113 processes IP call control messages andvoice packets from mobile telephones 40.

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) server 114 provides locationregistration and call control for mobile telephones 40 (wireless IPterminals) that adopt SIP protocol for an IP telephone control. Notethat, although in this case the SIP server 114 is provided to implementan IP telephone control protocol, if wireless IP terminals that connectto cordless telephone base unit 10 adopt a protocol other than SIP, acall control server corresponding to the protocol may be provided.

SIP control section 115 is an SIP protocol stack that, as a virtual SIPterminal provided inside cordless telephone base unit 10, performs callcontrol procedures in conjunction with SIP server 114, and establishescalls between cordless telephone base unit 10 and mobile telephone 40.Further, SIP control section 115 sends SIP messages or the like receivedfrom mobile telephone 40 to the sections of base unit control section109 (call control section 110, portable unit registration section 111,portable unit authorization section 112) after converting the SIPmessages or the like to an internal message format for processing bybase unit control section 109, and also converts internal messagesreceived from the sections of base unit control section 109 to SIPmessages or the like, sends the resulting SIP messages or the like toSIP server 114 and performs relay processing for controlling mobiletelephone 40 as a portable unit under the control of base unit controlsection 109.

VoIP control section 116 performs encoding of PCM (Pulse CodeModulation) data received from NCU and modem section 101, cordlesstelephone portable unit control section 108, and audio input/outputsection 104 to voice packet data, decoding of voice packet data receivedfrom mobile telephone 40 to PCM data, and jitter buffer control thatadjusts delays and jitter in voice packets.

Base unit search section 117 receives base unit search messages frommobile telephone 40, and sends back address information of the cordlesstelephone base unit to mobile telephone 40.

Wireless LAN I/F section 118 performs wireless LAN protocol control inaccordance with a protocol such as IEEE 802.11 or Bluetooth (registeredtrademark) to transmit and receive wireless data to and from mobiletelephone 40.

Wireless LAN bridge control section 119 analyzes the packet type anddestination address information of packet data received via wireless LANI/F section 118, determines whether to forward the received packets tobase unit control section 109 or to access point 20, and performsforward processing.

Wireless LAN bridge control section 119 may operate as a client ofaccess point 20 that performs transmission and reception of packet datato and from mobile telephone 40 via access point 20. In this case, theforward processing of the wireless LAN bridge control section can beomitted.

The following should be noted. When the wireless LAN bridge controlsection is omitted, and the transmission and reception of packet data isperformed as a client of access point 20, naturally, there is no effectof enlarging the utilization range of the mobile telephones by relayingradio signals between mobile telephone 40 and access point 20.Meanwhile, there is no influence on operating the mobile telephone as aportable unit of the cordless telephone equipment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of mobiletelephone (wireless IP terminal) 40 shown in FIG. 1. Hereunder, theconfiguration of mobile telephone 40 will be described using FIG. 3.

Cellular wireless I/F section 141 transmits and receives wireless datato and from a mobile telephone base station through a telephone antenna.

Storage section 142 stores various kinds of setting data of the cordlesstelephone equipment, directory data, outgoing and incoming call historyinformation, and information of SMS messages and the like.

Audio input/output section 143 includes a microphone and a speaker, andoutputs a ringtone and also receives and outputs telephone conversationspeech.

Operation section 144 includes dial keys and various function keys withwhich a user performs operations. LCD section 145 displays various kindsof information. Operation section 144 and LCD section 145 may also beincluded in a touch panel of a smartphone or the like.

Wireless LAN I/F section 146 performs wireless LAN protocol control inaccordance with a protocol such as IEEE 802.11 or Bluetooth (registeredtrademark) to transmit and receive wireless data to and from cordlesstelephone base unit 10.

Terminal control section 147 performs overall control of mobiletelephone 40. Specifically, terminal control section 147 receives andanalyzes events and messages that originate from each section aroundterminal control section 147, controls the state of outgoing andincoming calls and the call connection, and issues instructions to eachsection.

Cellular telephone control section 148 processes call control messagesreceived from cellular wireless I/F section 141 and IP telephone controlsection 153.

Web browser control section 149 includes a browser program to displaywebpages and to navigate the Internet.

Base unit search request section 150 generates multicast packets forsearching for cordless telephone base unit 10 that can be connected toby wireless LAN, and causes wireless LAN I/F section 146 to send themulticast packets as a base unit search request. Initiation of a baseunit search request is performed by a key input operation at operationsection 144, touching a predetermined icon on a touch panel, or byperiodically activating a base unit search request program.

Portable unit registration request section 151 sends a portable unitregistration request message to cordless telephone base unit 10 torequest registration as a portable unit under the control of cordlesstelephone base unit 10.

Portable unit authorization request section 152 requests connectionauthorization as a portable unit that is registered with cordlesstelephone base unit 10.

IP telephone control section 153 processes IP call control messages andvoice packets.

SIP control section 154 is an SIP standards protocol stack that causesmobile telephone 40 to function as an SIP terminal.

VoIP control section 155 performs encoding of PCM data to voice packetdata, decoding of voice packet data received from cordless telephonebase unit 10 to PCM data, and jitter buffer control that adjusts delaysand jitter in voice packets.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating packet reception processing ofcordless telephone base unit 10 shown in FIG. 2. In step ST201, wirelessLAN bridge control section 119 determines whether or not the receivedpackets are multicast packets. If the received packets are multicastpackets (ST201: Yes), the process moves to step ST203, while if thereceived packets are unicast packets (ST201: No), the process moves tostep ST202.

In step ST202, wireless LAN bridge control section 119 determineswhether or not the destination MAC address of the received packet iscordless telephone base unit 10. If the destination MAC address iscordless telephone base unit 10 (ST202: Yes), the process moves to stepST205, while if the destination MAC address is not cordless telephonebase unit 10 (ST202: No), the process moves to step ST204.

In step ST203, IP telephone control section 113 determines whether ornot the received packets are a base unit search message. If the receivedpackets are a base unit search message (ST203: Yes), the process movesto step ST206, while if the received packets are not a base unit searchmessage (ST203: No), the process moves to step ST204.

In step ST204, wireless LAN bridge control section 119 performs relayprocessing that forwards received packets to access point 20.

In step ST205, IP telephone control section 113 determines whether ornot the received packets are a base unit search message. If the receivedpackets are a base unit search message (ST205: Yes), the process movesto step ST206, while if the received packets are not a base unit searchmessage (ST205: No), the process moves to step ST207.

In step ST206, as address information of cordless telephone base unit10, IP telephone control section 113 replies with the MAC address ofcordless telephone base unit 10 and the IP address of SIP server 114.

In step ST207, IP telephone control section 113 determines whether ornot the received packets are a portable unit registration requestmessage. If the received packets are a portable unit registrationrequest message (ST207: Yes), the process moves to step ST208, while ifthe received packets are not a portable unit registration requestmessage (ST207: No), the process moves to step ST209.

In step ST208, portable unit registration section 111 performs portableunit registration processing. The portable unit registration processingis described in detail later.

In step ST209, IP telephone control section 113 determines whether ornot the received packets are a portable unit authorization requestmessage. If the received packets are a portable unit authorizationrequest message (ST209: Yes), the process moves to step ST210, while ifthe received packets are not a portable unit authorization requestmessage (ST209: No), the process moves to step ST211.

In step ST210, portable unit authorization section 112 performs portableunit authorization processing. The portable unit authorizationprocessing is described in detail later.

In step ST211, IP telephone control section 113 determines whether ornot the transmission source MAC address of the received packets is theMAC address of a registered portable unit. If the transmission sourceMAC address is the MAC address of a registered portable unit (ST211:Yes), the process moves to step ST212, while if the transmission sourceMAC address is not the MAC address of a registered portable unit (ST211:No), the process moves to step ST213.

In step ST212, IP telephone control section 113 performs call controlprocessing with respect to the received packets as message data from aportable unit corresponding to the transmission source MAC address.

In step ST213, IP telephone control section 113 discards the receivedpackets.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating portable unit registration processingthat is shown in FIG. 4. In step ST221, portable unit registrationsection 111 determines whether or not there is a vacant port at which aportable unit can be newly registered. If there is a vacant port (ST221:Yes), the process moves to step ST222, while if there is no vacant port(ST221: No), the process moves to step ST224.

In step ST222, portable unit registration section 111 stores portableunit identification information and portable unit MAC addressinformation in a portable unit management table (FIG. 11) of storagesection 103. In step ST223, portable unit registration section 111 sendsa portable unit registration response (including OK and an extensionnumber or the like) to the portable unit that was registered.

In step ST224, portable unit registration section 111 sends a portableunit registration response (Not OK) to the portable unit.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart that illustrates portable unit authorizationprocessing shown in FIG. 4. In step ST231, portable unit authorizationsection 112 determines whether or not the portable unit that sent theportable unit authorization request message is registered (theauthorization ID and authorization password of the portable unit areregistered). If the portable unit is registered (ST231: Yes), theprocess moves to step ST232, while if the portable unit is notregistered (ST231: No), the process moves to step ST234.

In step ST232, portable unit authorization section 112 confirms aterminal identity whether or not the authorization ID and authorizationpassword included in the portable unit authorization request messagematch an authorization ID and authorization password that areregistered. If the authorization IDs and authorization passwords match(ST232: Yes), the process moves to step ST233, while if theauthorization IDs and authorization passwords do not match (ST232: No),the process moves to step ST234.

In step ST233, portable unit authorization section 112 sends a portableunit authorization response (OK) to the portable unit, while in stepST234 portable unit authorization section 112 sends a portable unitauthorization response (NO) to the portable unit.

Next, the procedures of wireless LAN bridge control in cordlesstelephone base unit 10 shown in FIG. 2 will be described using FIG. 7.

In step ST301, wireless LAN bridge control section 119 receives packetdata 1 (DATA 1) from mobile telephone 40. If wireless LAN bridge controlsection 119 determines that the destination address of the receivedpackets is an address other than cordless telephone base unit 10, instep ST302 and step ST303 wireless LAN bridge control section 119 sendsthe received packet data 1 to the Internet through wireless LAN I/Fsection 118 and access point 20.

Further, in step ST311 wireless LAN bridge control section 119 receivespacket data 2 (DATA 2) from mobile telephone 40. If wireless LAN bridgecontrol section 119 determines that the destination address of thereceived packets is cordless telephone base unit 10, in step ST312wireless LAN bridge control section 119 outputs the received packet data2 to IP telephone control section 113 and the like.

Furthermore, in step ST321 and step ST322, wireless LAN bridge controlsection 119 receives packet data 3 (DATA 3) from the Internet via accesspoint 20 and wireless LAN I/F section 118. In step ST323, if wirelessLAN bridge control section 119 determines that the destination addressof the received packets is other than cordless telephone base unit 10,wireless LAN bridge control section 119 sends the received packet data 3to mobile telephone 40 through wireless LAN I/F section 118.

Next, procedures for portable unit registration, portable unitauthorization, and extension calls between portable units with respectto mobile telephone 40 that are performed at cordless telephone baseunit 10 shown in FIG. 2 will be described using FIG. 8.

First, portable unit registration procedures for mobile telephone 40will be described. In step ST401, IP telephone control section 113receives multicast packets (a base unit search message) from mobiletelephone 40 through wireless LAN I/F section 118 and wireless LANbridge control section 119. In step ST402, IP telephone control section113 replies with the MAC address of cordless telephone base unit 10 andthe IP address of the SIP server (call control server) as a searchresponse to mobile telephone 40.

In step ST403, mobile telephone 40 sends a portable unit registrationrequest including portable unit identification information such asextension name or user-ID code set by a user to base unit controlsection 109, and as portable unit registration processing, base unitcontrol section 109 registers mobile telephone 40 as a portable unit andalso stores the identification information of the portable unit and theportable unit MAC address. In step ST404, base unit control section 109sends a portable unit registration response (OK and extension number) tomobile telephone 40.

Next, portable unit authorization procedures for mobile telephone 40will be described. In step ST411, base unit control section 109 receivesa portable unit authorization request message including an authorizationID and authorization password from mobile telephone 40, and base unitcontrol section 109 performs portable unit authorization processing.That is, base unit control section 109 checks whether or not thereceived authorization ID and authorization password match anauthorization ID and authorization password that are registered. If theauthorization IDs and authorization passwords match, in step ST412 baseunit control section 109 sends the portable unit authorization response(OK) to mobile telephone 40.

Next, extension call procedures between mobile telephone 40 and cordlesstelephone portable unit 30 will be described. When base unit controlsection 109 receives an outgoing call (INVITE message) from mobiletelephone 40 in step ST421, in the subsequent step ST422 base unitcontrol section 109 outputs SETUP to the cordless telephone portableunit wireless I/F section, and in step ST423 cordless telephone portableunit wireless I/F section 107 sends CC (Call Control)-SETUP to cordlesstelephone portable unit 30.

On the other hand, in step ST424, base unit control section 109 thatreceived the outgoing call from mobile telephone 40 outputs CALL-PROC toIP telephone control section 113. In step ST425, IP telephone controlsection 113 sends 100 TRYING to mobile telephone 40.

In step ST426, cordless telephone portable unit 30 that receivedCC-SETUP sends CC-ALERT to cordless telephone portable unit wireless I/Fsection 107. In step ST427, cordless telephone portable unit wirelessI/F section 107 outputs ALERT to base unit control section 109.

In step ST428, base unit control section 109 outputs ALERT to IPtelephone control section 113. In step ST429, IP telephone controlsection 113 sends 180 RINGING to mobile telephone 40.

In step ST430, cordless telephone portable unit 30 sends CC-CONNECT tocordless telephone portable unit wireless I/F section 107. In stepST431, cordless telephone portable unit wireless I/F section 107 outputsCONNECT to base unit control section 109.

In step ST432, base unit control section 109 outputs CONNECT to IPtelephone control section 113. In step ST433, IP telephone controlsection 113 sends 200 OK to mobile telephone 40.

In step ST434, mobile telephone 40 sends 12 ACK to IP telephone controlsection 113. In step ST435, IP telephone control section 113 outputsCONNECT-ACK to cordless telephone portable unit wireless I/F section107. In step ST436, cordless telephone portable unit wireless I/Fsection 107 sends CC-CONNECT-ACK to cordless telephone portable unit 30.

Thus, through a sequence of operations that include signal transmission,calling, and response, a speech channel is established between mobiletelephone 40 and cordless telephone portable unit 30 through cordlesstelephone base unit 10.

By the above described procedures, the SIP and DECT protocols areassociated, and an extension call is possible between mobile telephone40 and cordless telephone portable unit 30.

Next, procedures whereby cordless telephone base unit 10 shown in FIG. 2sends portable unit additional information to mobile telephone 40 aredescribed using FIG. 9.

In step ST501, base unit control section 109 receives a portable unitadditional information request message from mobile telephone 40 whichhas already been registered and authorized at cordless telephone baseunit 10. In step ST502, base unit control section 109 acquires theportable unit additional information of the portable unit (mobiletelephone 40) that requested the portable unit additional information,and sends the acquired portable unit additional information to mobiletelephone 40.

The portable unit additional information may also be sent in thefollowing manner. In step ST511, base unit control section 109 receivesa portable unit authorization request message including an authorizationID and an authorization password from mobile telephone 40 which hasalready been registered at cordless telephone base unit 10, and the baseunit control section performs portable unit authorization processing.That is, base unit control section 109 checks whether or not thereceived authorization ID and authorization password match a registeredauthorization ID and authorization password, and if the authorizationIDs and authorization passwords match, in step ST512 base unit controlsection 109 sends the portable unit authorization response (OK) tomobile telephone 40. In addition, in step ST513, base unit controlsection 109 acquires portable unit additional information of theportable unit that requested authorization (mobile telephone 40), andsends the acquired portable unit additional information to mobiletelephone 40. Thus, upon completion of authorization, the portable unitadditional information is automatically sent from cordless telephonebase unit 10.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a wireless LAN address informationtable of SIP server 114. FIG. 10 illustrates a case in which the MACaddresses of five portable units can be registered at cordless telephonebase unit 10. As shown in FIG. 10, the wireless LAN address informationtable includes the IP address and MAC address of cordless telephone baseunit 10, the MAC address of access point 20, and the MAC addresses ofportable units 1 to 5. Wireless LAN bridge control section 119 refers asnecessary to the wireless LAN address information table of SIP server114 and performs packet forward processing.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a portable unit management table ofstorage section 103. FIG. 11 illustrates an example in which twocordless telephone portable units (portable units 1 and 2) and twomobile telephones (portable units 3 and 4) are registered. Note that,portable unit 5 is shown in an unregistered state. As shown in FIG. 11,in the portable unit management table, an extension number, a connectionstate, an extension name, a portable unit type, a MAC address, anauthorization ID, and an authorization password are associated with eachof portable units 1 to 5. In FIG. 11, although the extension name isused as the authorization ID, any identification information of themobile telephone can be used for the authorization ID. Further, the MACaddress (including a part thereof) of the mobile telephone may be usedas the authorization password. Portable unit registration section 111and portable unit authorization section 112 manage portable units byregistering the portable units in the portable unit management table ofstorage section 103 and updating the information.

FIG. 12 is a view illustrating an example of a portable unit additionalinformation table of storage section 103. FIG. 12 illustrates theportable unit additional information table in such a way as tocorrespond to the portable unit management table shown in FIG. 11. Thatis, the portable unit additional information table manages portable unitadditional information of each of the five portable units. As shown inFIG. 12, as examples of the portable unit additional information of eachportable unit, dates and times that short messages were generated at theportable unit, phone numbers of other parties, SMS information (SMSmessages) including text messages, telephone answering machine (TAM)information, times of outgoing and incoming calls from and to theportable unit, call history information including phone numbers of otherparties, and directory information and the like may be mentioned. Thebase unit control section sends the relevant portable unit additionalinformation upon receiving a portable unit additional informationrequest message from a currently connected mobile telephone 40 that hasalready been registered and authorized as a portable unit, or sends therelevant portable unit additional information to mobile telephone 40that made a portable unit authorization request.

Thus, according to the present embodiment, cordless telephone base unit10 replies with the address information of cordless telephone base unit10 to mobile telephone 40 that sent a base unit search message bymulticast transmission and registers the relevant mobile telephone 40 asa portable unit. As a result, mobile telephone 40 having a wireless LANcommunication function that can connect to the Internet can be utilizedas a portable unit in the home. Thus, mobile telephone 40 can coexistwith cordless telephone portable unit 30 that adopts the PHS protocol orDECT protocol, and mobile telephone 40 can be utilized for extensioncalls with portable units adopting the DECT protocol as well as anoutgoing/incoming call service that uses a landline telephone network towhich cordless telephone base unit 10 is connected.

Further, by providing cordless telephone base unit 10 with wireless LANbridge control section 119 that forwards received packets in accordancewith a destination address of the received packets, even in a case whereradio signals from a wireless access point do not directly reach mobiletelephone 40 in the home, cordless telephone base unit 10 can relay theradio signals between mobile telephone 40 and the wireless access point.Further, mobile telephone 40 that is outside the home can be utilized asa cordless telephone portable unit through a wireless access point, andcan access to cordless telephone base unit 10 that is in the home froman office and check the history of incoming calls or SMS messages thatare received during the user's absence from the home.

Note that, although SIP is described as an example of a communicationprotocol between mobile telephone 40 and cordless telephone base unit 10according to the present embodiment, the present invention is notlimited to SIP protocol, and for example, ITU-T standard H.323 protocolor the like may also be used.

As has been described, the cordless telephone equipment, the cordlesstelephone system, and the communication method thereof according to thepresent invention are useful for utilizing a wireless IP terminal havinga wireless LAN communication function capable of connecting to theInternet, as a cordless telephone portable unit in the home and outsidethe home, also for allowing the wireless IP terminal to coexist with acordless telephone portable unit having no wireless LAN communicationfunction, and for relaying radio signals between the wireless IPterminal and a wireless access point in a case where the radio signalsdo not directly reach the wireless IP terminal from the wireless accesspoint in the home.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The present application claims priority from Japanese application JP2013-120032 filed on Jun. 6, 2013, the content of which is herebyincorporated by reference into this application.

1. Cordless telephone equipment comprising: a handset that is a non IP terminal; and a base unit that connects with the handset by radio, wherein the base unit comprises: a handset controller that controls a communication protocol between the base unit and the handset through a wireless interface that connects with the handset by radio; a wireless LAN interface that transmits and receives packet data to and from a wireless IP terminal; a base unit controller that processes a message received from the handset controller and executes a call control, and receives, from the wireless IP terminal through the wireless LAN interface, packet data having address information of the base unit as a destination address, wherein the base unit controller comprises: an IP telephone controller that includes an IP call control server and that performs, when the packet data received from the wireless IP terminal is an IP telephone message, processing to convert the IP telephone message to an internal message format to be processed within the base unit controller and processing to convert an internal message within the base unit controller into the IP telephone message to control a communication protocol with the wireless IP terminal; and a handset register that registers the wireless IP terminal as a handset when the packet data received from the wireless IP terminal is a handset registration request message, wherein the base unit controller processes, among the packet data received from the wireless IP terminal, packet data received from a wireless IP terminal that has been registered by the handset register, as message data received from a handset under control of the base unit, and executes a call control common to a handset that is the non IP terminal, for a wireless IP terminal whose registration by the handset register has been confirmed.
 2. The cordless telephone equipment according to claim 1, wherein the base unit further comprises a base unit searcher that, when the packet data received from the wireless IP terminal is a base unit search message, replies to the wireless IP terminal, with address information of the IP call control server incorporated in the base unit.
 3. The cordless telephone equipment according to claim 2, wherein the address information of the base unit is a MAC address of the base unit and an IP address of the IP call control server.
 4. A cordless telephone system comprising: the cordless telephone equipment according to claim 1; and a wireless IP terminal that transmits and receives packet data to and from a base unit of the cordless telephone equipment through a wireless LAN and that is a subject for a call control as a handset under control of the base unit.
 5. A cordless telephone system which is the cordless telephone equipment according to claim 1, further comprising a handset authenticator that, when the packet data received from a wireless IP terminal that has been registered as a handset is a handset authentication message, confirms terminal identity with the wireless IP terminal that has been registered as a handset, using an authentication ID and an authentication password that are included in the handset authentication message.
 6. The cordless telephone system according to claim 5, wherein the authentication ID is identification information of the wireless IP terminal, and the authentication password is a MAC address of the wireless IP terminal.
 7. Cordless telephone equipment comprising: a handset that is a non IP terminal; and a base unit that connects with the handset by radio, wherein the base unit comprises: a handset controller that controls a communication protocol between the base unit and the handset through a wireless interface that connects with the handset by radio; a wireless LAN interface that transmits and receives packet data to and from a wireless IP terminal; a base unit searcher that, upon receiving a base unit search message from the wireless IP terminal, replies to the wireless IP terminal, with address information of an IP call control server incorporated in the base unit; an IP telephone controller that includes the IP call control server and that performs processing to convert an IP telephone message from the wireless IP terminal to an internal message format to be processed within the base unit controller and processing to convert an internal message within the base unit controller into the IP telephone message to control a communication protocol with the wireless IP terminal; a wireless LAN bridge controller that, upon receiving from the wireless IP terminal, packet data having address information of the base unit as a destination address, forwards the received packet data to the IP telephone controller; a handset register that receives a handset registration request message from the wireless IP terminal and registers the wireless IP terminal as a handset; and a base unit controller that processes, among the packet data forwarded to the IP telephone controller from the wireless IP terminal through the wireless LAN bridge controller, packet data received from the wireless IP terminal that has been registered by the handset register, as message data received from a handset under control of the base unit, and that executes a call control common to the handset that is the non IP terminal, for the wireless IP terminal whose registration by the handset register has been confirmed.
 8. The cordless telephone equipment according to claim 7, wherein address information of the base unit is a MAC address of the base unit and an IP address of the IP call control server.
 9. A cordless telephone system comprising: the cordless telephone equipment according to claim 7; and a wireless IP terminal that transmits and receives packet data to and from a base unit of the cordless telephone equipment through a wireless LAN and that is a subject for a call control as a handset under control of the base unit.
 10. A wireless communication method to be executed in a handset that is a non IP terminal and a base unit that connects with the handset by radio, the method comprising: executing by the base unit, a communication protocol control between the base unit and the handset; transmitting and receiving by the base unit, packet data to and from a wireless IP terminal; receiving by the base unit, packet data having address information of the base unit as a destination address from the wireless IP terminal; performing by the base unit, when the packet data received from the wireless IP terminal is an IP telephone message, processing to convert the IP telephone message to an internal message format and processing to convert the internal message into the IP telephone message to execute a communication protocol control with the wireless IP terminal; registering by the base unit, the wireless IP terminal as a handset when the packet data received from the wireless IP terminal is a handset registration request message; and processing by the base unit, the packet data received from the registered wireless IP terminal as message data received from a handset under control of the base unit and executing by the base unit, a call control common to a handset that is the non IP terminal, for the wireless IP terminal whose registration has been confirmed.
 11. The wireless communication method according to claim 10, wherein, when the packet data received from the wireless IP terminal is a base unit search message, the base unit replies to the wireless IP terminal, with address information of the IP call control server incorporated in the base unit.
 12. The wireless communication method according to claim 11, wherein the address information of the base unit is a MAC address of the base unit and an IP address of the IP call control server.
 13. The wireless communication method according to claim 10, wherein, when the packet data received from a wireless IP terminal that has been registered as a handset is a handset authentication message, terminal identity with the wireless IP terminal that has been registered as a handset is confirmed using an authentication ID and an authentication password that are included in the handset authentication message.
 14. The wireless communication method according to claim 13, wherein the authentication ID is identification information of the wireless IP terminal, and the authentication password is a MAC address of the wireless IP terminal. 